Chapter 79 Brother’s warning

Chapter 79 Brother’s warning
Cardan's gaze snapped toward the speaker, a minor lord named Harlow, known for his loud opinions and his lack of political sense. "Then I will deal with it. But until evidence is presented, real evidence, not court gossip and innuendo, I will not tolerate any further slander against my wife. Anyone who spreads these rumors will answer to me personally. Is that understood?"

Lord Harlow shrank back. "Yes, Your Majesty."

"Is that understood?" Cardan repeated, his voice rising to fill the hall.

A murmur of assent rippled through the crowd. The courtiers bowed their heads. Some of them looked genuinely chastened. Others looked merely cowed.

But I saw Elowyn's face in the crowd. Her expression was serene, but her eyes were burning with cold fury.

"Furthermore," Cardan continued, "I am doubling the guard around Lady Freya's chambers. She is carrying the future of this kingdom, and I will not allow her safety to be compromised by rumor-mongers and schemers."

The words hung in the air like a challenge. Elowyn's smile tightened almost imperceptibly.

"Now," Cardan said, settling back onto his throne. "Let us attend to the business of the kingdom."

The court proceeded. Reports were delivered. Petitions were heard. The routine of governance continued as if nothing had happened. But the tension in the room, it refused to leave. 

And through it all, Elowyn watched me with those cold and calculating eyes.

She had lost this round. But she would not stop fighting.

\-—————————-

After the court session, I retreated to the conservatory.

It had become my sanctuary, the one place in this golden palace where I could breathe apart from my chambers, or Cardan's. The night-blooming flowers were just beginning to open, their petals unfurling like tiny violet stars. The air was thick with their fragrance, sweet and familiar.

I sat on a stone bench and let the silence wash over me.

"Nyx."

I looked up. Cardan stood in the doorway, his crown removed, his bronze hair a bit disheveled. Despite his tired look, he still managed to look very handsome and regal. 

"May I join you?" he asked.

"Always."

He sat beside me. For a long moment, neither of us spoke. The fountain burbled. The flowers swayed in the gentle breeze.

"I'm sorry about the court," he said finally. "The rumors. I should have acted sooner."

"You acted when it mattered. That's what counts."

"It doesn't feel like I did enough. I wish we could find who sent the poisoned fruits."

"It never does." I leaned my head against his shoulder. "But it's enough for me."

He wrapped his arm around me, pulling me close. "I don't know how you bear it. The constant scrutiny. The endless scheming. I know I was born to this life, and even I find it exhausting."

"When you grow up in Hel, you learn to grow armor. Thick armor, with very few weak points."

"And what are your weak points?"

I looked up at him. "You, Ash and my brothers. But mostly you."

He kissed me, soft and gentle, there in the twilight of the conservatory. When he pulled back, his silver eyes were warm.

"You're my weak point too," he said. "The thought of losing you..." He stopped and swallowed. "It terrifies me more than any threat to my crown."

"Then don't lose me."

"I won't. I promise."

I wanted to believe him. I did believe him. But promises, I had learned, were fragile things in a court built on lies.

\-——————-

The letter from Eris arrived that evening.

It came through the shadow-network, delivered by a raven of solidified darkness that materialized on my balcony with a soft caw. Its feathers were not feathers at all, but wisps of shadow given form. Its eyes burned with violet flame.

I untied the scroll from its leg. The raven dissolved into smoke.

My sister,

I've found something. Something important. You need to read this immediately.

The scholars have been combing the old texts, looking for any mention of a sleeping entity beneath the northern mountains. They found it. The creature is called the Duskbringer, a primordial being that existed before the treaty of the Sundered Gate. It was sealed away by our ancestor, the first Morrigan queen, using a combination of shadow magic and blood sacrifice.

The texts say the Duskbringer is caged beneath the northern mountains. The Umbral Hosts are nothing but minions to the Duskbringer. Duskbringer uses them to carry out his will. If the seal is weakening, and the evidence suggests it is, then the Umbral Host's interest in you is not random. You are not just a target, Nyx. You are the key to waking it fully.

Be careful. And whatever you do, do not go near the northern mountains until we understand more. If the Duskbringer gets its hooks into you, if it tastes your blood, it may be powerful enough to break free entirely.

I'm sending you everything the scholars have found. Study it. Share it with your husband if you trust him. But do not act alone.

Your brother,

Eris

I read the letter twice. Then a third time. My hands were trembling.

The Duskbringer. A primordial being that fed on Morrigan blood. The visions in Ash's dreamscape. The Seer's warning about the child of light and darkness. It was all connected, all of it. And at the center of the web was me.

I needed to tell Cardan. But before I could move, there was another knock at the door.

Liriel entered, carrying a second letter. "From Valdris, Your Majesty. Marked urgent."

My heart clenched. News from Valdris was rarely good these days. Sebastian was still coming to terms with his new position and he was finding it hard. 

I took the letter. The seal was Sebastian's, the rising phoenix of the Crown Prince of Valdris, new and unfamiliar. My fingers trembled as I broke it open.

Nyx,

My uncle is dead. King Henri passed three nights ago in his sleep. The physicians say it was his heart. He had been weakening for months, and the grief over Philippe broke something in him that could not be mended.

I am to be crowned King of Valdris in three weeks. I am not ready. I will never be ready. But I am all that is left.

I am formally inviting you and King Cardan to my coronation. I know things are difficult in Aurelia right now, I hear whispers, even from this distance but I would be honored if you could attend. I need allies now more than ever. I need friends.

Come if you can. But if you cannot, I will understand.

Yours,

Sebastian

I folded the letter carefully, my mind racing.

King Henri was dead. Sebastian was about to be crowned.